It is known to inject steam onto a stream of water in a manner to condense the steam and transfer the energy of the steam to the water, thereby obtaining a high output pressure for the liquid, greater than the pressure of the incoming steam. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,635 is directed to a hydrokinetic amplifier, in which the kinetic energy of the steam is transferred to a liquid stream to obtain a large pressure amplification for the liquid. In accordance with the aforementioned patent, a stream of liquid is discharged through a nozzle into a converging acceleration chamber, and steam is injected into the acceleration chamber through a steam nozzle that surrounds the liquid nozzle. The steam nozzle has a throat region located upstream of the liquid nozzle and a diverging section extends from the throat of the steam nozzle to the liquid nozzle, causing acceleration of the steam to supersonic velocities.
The liquid stream, along with the surrounding steam, passes into the acceleration chamber and the momentum energy of the steam is transferred to the liquid as the steam contacts the liquid and condenses on the liquid surface. After flowing through the acceleration chamber, the liquid is then discharged through a diffuser section, which converts the liquid velocity to high pressure.
With the construction as shown in the aforementioned patent, the primary objective is to generate high liquid pressure and the position of the liquid nozzle is intended to be stationed relative to the steam nozzle to obtain the maximum pressure increase for the liquid.
Many industrial plants have residual low pressure steam from processing operations and it is desirable to use the steam for heating, particularly for heating water. However, with certain types of water heating devices, it is necessary that the steam pressure be greater than the water pressure in order to obtain proper operation of the heating device. In many instances, the water pressure in an industrial plant may be in the range of 30 to 60 psi, while the residual steam pressure may be only about 20 psi, making the heating devices unusable under those pressure conditions. Therefore, there has been a need for an inexpensive heating mechanism that can utilize low pressure steam.